Kanji N2

賢: intelligent, wise, wisdom

賢 is a JLPT N2 kanji meaning intelligent, wise, wisdom, written with 16 strokes. It is read ケン (on) and かしこい (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 賢い (かしこい, wise) and 賢明 (けんめい, wise).

賢

Meanings

  • intelligent
  • wise
  • wisdom
  • cleverness
Strokes16
JLPT levelN2
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1159 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ケン

On'yomi: from Chinese, written in katakana. Used in compound words.

Kun reading
  • かしこい

Kun'yomi: native Japanese, in hiragana. The faint part is the okurigana, written in kana after the kanji.

Watch the stroke order

Every stroke in order, the live one in vermilion. Replay as often as you like.

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Now draw it

Trace each stroke in order. Wrong direction or wrong order gets flagged right away.

123456789101112131415160 / 16

Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 16. Start at the dot.

Common words with 賢

The most useful words written with it, easiest first. Every other kanji in them opens its own page.

  • 賢いかしこい

    wise; clever; smart

    JLPT N3
  • 賢明けんめい

    wise; sensible; well-advised; intelligent

    JLPT N1
  • 普賢ふげん

    Samantabhadra (bodhisattva)

  • 賢人けんじん

    wise person; virtuous person; sage

  • 悪賢いわるがしこい

    cunning; crafty; wily; sly

  • 賢母けんぼ

    wise mother

  • 賢所かしこどころ

    palace sanctuary

  • 賢者けんじゃ

    wise person; sage

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Stroke order from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Readings, meanings and words from KANJIDIC2 and JMdict, names from JMnedict, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata, CC0; the Spanish meanings they lack, translated by Naraio from their English, are shared under the same licence. Example sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR. JLPT lists after Jonathan Waller (tanos.co.uk), CC BY. Sentences split into words with IPADIC © NAIST and IPA, through Lindera.